Fogo Island, Part 2

One interesting thing we accidentally left out of the last blog was a fascinating optical phenomenon that we happened to witness while touring the artist studios with Heather, our tour guide. As we drove toward one of the small communities, we saw an interesting line over the ocean horizon, with icebergs appearing to hang in the air. This is called a Fata Morgana and is caused by a temperature inversion—we were actually seeing the tops of icebergs on the ocean below reflected in the air, only upside-down!

The Fata Morgana illusion, icebergs suspended in air.

Now back to the story… on Wednesday night our friend Zita came home to Fogo Island from her business trip in Calgary, and came over to JigLoft for a quick visit and to meet Marc and Lynne. It was wonderful to see her again, after almost 12 years! So much has happened since then, and we started immediately catching up, talking a mile a minute.  When she left to go home to bed, we made a plan for a hike in the morning.

Carol and Zita, catching up!

We were ready about 8:30 am and four of us, minus Jack who stayed home to work on some other stuff, headed to the community of Fogo, to hike the Lion’s Den trail, one of Zita’s favorites. The trail goes through scrub forest, over rocky knobs, and has amazing views of the ocean and icebergs, and several picturesque abandoned fishing villages. Zita and I yakked nonstop most of the way, still catching up on our lives and mutual friends—“Whatever happened to so-and-so??” Sometimes, though, we just had to stop and admire the breathtaking views! She filled us in on a lot of the “backstory” of the villages and the natural settings. After the hike we toured around a little in the RoadTrek and Zita showed us some spots that had special meaning for her in the towns and the countryside. She had to be back for a meeting at noon, but she invited us over to the Inn at 6 pm for a presentation she was giving, on Shorefast Foundation (the nonprofit that she started and is president of) and the Inn.

Lynne, Carol and Zita at one of the stunning overlooks on Lion's Den trail.

We rested up at JigLoft until time to go to the presentation. We’d already taken a bunch of photos of the Inn and had gone there already once to use their Wifi, so we had seen some of it. Designed by a noted architect who was born in Newfoundland, it’s truly an amazing building, perched out on a rock ledge right by the wild north Atlantic Ocean. Icebergs come floating by and whales sometimes appear right offshore. It incorporates elements from the traditional buildings on Fogo, like the pilings used by the fishing stages where they dry and salt the cod. The off-white color is reminiscent of the icebergs. It’s totally modern architecture but somehow fits in with the traditional community. It looks different depending on what angle you view it from. Sometimes it seems completely off by itself, and sometimes it appears to be part of the community of Joe Batt’s Arm. It definitely is a part—it belongs to the community and all profits are plowed back into community betterment.

A view of Joe Batt's Arm community with Fogo Island Inn in the background. Note how it fits in here.

Dramatic view of the Inn as seen from the ocean.

As we heard in Zita’s engaging presentation, back in the 1960s the people of Fogo Island were presented with a decision to make: whether to relocate to somewhere less remote with more infrastructure, educational opportunities, and jobs other than fishing… or not—just to stay where they were and try to figure out how to continue to make a living there. The decision-making process on Fogo was filmed as part of a university research study back then, and it’s now called the Fogo Process. The community finally decided together NOT to be relocated—to hang onto this rock in the ocean that they are so attached to, and try to find a way to keep their culture intact and at the same time earn a decent living. Zita’s Fogo Island Inn is really a continuation of the Fogo Process and hopefully will help to keep the community viable. Her presentation was thought-provoking—she is passionate about what she’s doing and her enthusiasm is infectious. She challenges everyone to make a difference in their own communities.

Afterwards we had a cocktail in the lounge (mine containing the local Newfoundland rum called “Screech”—having Screech is supposedly a necessary Newfoundland experience). Then home to get packed up for our move on Friday to our rooms at the Inn—oh boy!

Friday morning before we checked in we decided to visit the marine interpretation center in another island community called Seldom, about 20 minutes away. This center was in several old buildings left from the old-time commercial fishing operation. Lots of interesting history there, including all the equipment for making cod liver oil in big tanks. So that’s where it came from! We had lunch at a little place called Vanessa’s in Seldom—looked like a tiny gas station but the food was tasty.

It was rainy and foggy when we finally pulled into the Inn. We all fell in love with our rooms immediately—there’s a lot to love, including the remote-control toilet with the heated seat and five-function bidet. Took me about 15 minutes to learn how to work the toilet but it was worth it! We don’t have nothin’ like this in Oriskany! Also the floor to ceiling windows overlooking the rocky ocean shoreline (of course with iceberg views), the in-room woodstove, beautiful bathroom with huge shower and soaking tub, and the amazingly comfy chairs by the windows. Everything was specially designed just for the Inn, reflecting Fogo’s culture and traditions—all the wallpaper, the chairs, the knitted shawls and afghans, the bed were all either designed or made, or both, on Fogo Island. Wow!  I never want to leave this room…

Carol in the amazingly comfy handmade chair with handmade knitted cushion--it's like an adult crib!

The control system for the toilet--I kid you not.

Click here for a panoramic view of our room.

We meet Zita for supper in the lounge and have a fabulous dinner in the dining room, which also has floor to ceiling windows looking out on the rocks and the ocean, and a magical set of chandeliers overhead made of knotted white rope, also reflecting the fishing heritage. The chef here, who has made a big name for himself, uses almost all local ingredients, including lots of odd things like caribou moss, lichens and seaweeds as garnishes. The food is very tasty, with an artistic presentation, and Zita regales us with stories of how she managed to get all this done, and what her plans are for the future. She is just as funny and charismatic as I remember her. A lovely evening. After supper Zita shows us the sauna on the roof and the four of us have a sauna—nice and relaxing end to the evening.

Dinner together in the dining room. Each course is served with a flair!

Handmade knotted rope chandeliers. The ocean is right outside those floor-to-ceiling windows!

The rest of our time at the Inn is great, although the weather isn’t very cooperative—mostly rainy, cool and foggy. One of the nice traditions here is “Daybreaks”—every morning at dawn the staff leaves a wooden box outside each room filled with homemade scones or muffins, juice and coffee or tea according to your preference. (This is in addition to the regular breakfast later in the dining room!) We could get used to this… 

Each night a traditional singer performs local music in the lounge, which is a great backdrop to the food and conversation. It is very reminiscent of the old-time music in our area. They even “flatfoot” here too! On our last night, Zita sings for us in the lounge, a sad song about the demise of the fishing culture in Newfoundland—but at the end, she says “But not here!” She has certainly done her bit to try to preserve this place and this way of life that means so much to her—and obviously to all those who belong here.

Jack, Zita and Carol in lounge, just before Zita sang to us.

On Saturday we try to beat the rain and hike up to Brimstone Head, a dramatic high rock looking out over the ocean, which has been proclaimed by the Flat Earth Society to be one of the four corners of the flat earth. We need a photo to prove we’ve been there. It’s a fairly short hike mostly on a boardwalk and steps. The rain holds off till we get almost to the top, and then starts really falling. It’s too foggy on top to see anything, and the walk down is blustery and cold. We're the only ones climbing today. Duh. We’re glad to get back to our womblike rooms at the Inn and dry out.

Climbing the steps up Brimstone Head. Note Newfoundland humor...

We made it--but can't see a thing due to pea soup fog.

Our two days at the Inn are entirely too short. We depart on Sunday at noon and head off to the ferry, to take us back to mainland Newfoundland. But I don’t think any of us will ever forget Fogo.

[We’re still running behind on our blogs, but will try to catch up over the next couple of days…]